Shirley's not happy (2 Viewers)

[twostep]

I read that entire Hilary Will thread from 2012. I was very surprised how many names/members responded to that thread that are no longer on Nitromater. I wonder where they all went?

I dunno, Jon. I suppose like a lot of things in life, interest in certain things has waned and hasn't been replaced with "new blood". Lots of things have changed since 2012 and not necessarily for the better.

 

[you]

I read that entire Hilary Will thread from 2012. I was very surprised how many names/members responded to that thread that are no longer on Nitromater. I wonder where they all went?

I was thinking the same thing.

 

[PJ]

Hillary is great and certainly earned her way working up the sportsmen ranks. Hate that she's not racing anymore but she's still around and we usually see her once a year.
She's happy with what she is doing now.

For all of her greatness, I get so tired of the bitterness in Shirley.

 

[glofria]

For all of her greatness, I get so tired of the bitterness in Shirley.

Bitterness happens to all of us with age. Myself incuded.

 

[scratch]

She ran my 13 year old ass out of her pit at our local 1/8th mi track in a best 2 out of 3 match race with the Ramchargers in 1973.
The Ramchargers seemed kinda polished and let me stand around, Shirley not so much.

 

[Von Halen]

Bitterness happens to all of us with age. Myself incuded.

With Shirley it seemed to start on her birth date.

 

[mikebcurve]

She needs to eat more ice cream

 

[mick]

she needs to become less relevant

 

[Ramjet]

she needs to become less relevant

she needs to become less relevant In her own mind! Fixed it.

 

[Professional Fan]

Although I have some personal history with Shirley a while back, the last 2-3 years she has been attending a lot of races and I have found her to be very friendly. Seems to me she has mellowed, at least as to fan interaction.

 

[LasVegas87]

I respect what Shirley did for the sport and cannot imagine how difficult it had to be for her during that time. It seems that her struggles, when compared to how others have it now, have made her appear more bitter, than proud. The young ladies in the sport now have it better because of her. Most generations want the ones following them to have it 'better.' She should share and relish in the success of those coming into the sport behind her. Shirley's perspective should be one of progress, which she blazed the trail for.

 

[beltguy]

Several years ago I replied to another Shirley thread with my thoughts on how badly she treated support personnel. I am not in the habit of bashing people, but I truly have not met many folks as terrible as Shirley. Perhaps the general public buys into the "I am a martyr therefore I deserve the right to be grouchy" shtick, but I don't

OK guys, I seldom post here, but I want to make a point about Shirley. Yes, she apparently had to really fight to survive and thrive in what was a man's world. Yes, she had to be tough and maybe that earned her the right to."say it like it is". But I am not sure that all justifies her being such a "mean" person who treats racing support people terribly.

In the mid-90s I had NHRA place an announcement in the racer packages that said I was going to be at Columbus to investigate the significant rash of blower belt problems (I was the "blower belt guy" from Gates Rubber Company). With the exception of Shirley, I was welcomed by the racers since they knew I was trying to help. At that race, I followed her in the pits as she loudly announced that she was looking for the SOB (using the swear words several times) from Gates. For a while I thought about ignoring her and her crew, but I bit the bullet and went to visit her and Ron. He was so nice and she treated me like dirt.

Later in Denver, she was having a bunch of problems and I went to her pit. Again she was just plain mean. I started working with Ron and we discovered that they had done some mixing and matching of blower pulleys and had to make a thick shim/adapter to properly space the pulley they used for the high altitude. The shim/adapter surfaces were not parallel and that put a wobble in the pulley. I can't remember what they did, but they got rid of the adapter. That solved the problem for that race. I went back and Ron thanked me for the help and Shirley made a point of avoiding me.

I spent most of my time in the shut down area of various tracks so that I could inspect the belt after the run. I became good friends with most of the shut down crews. Most of them could not stand her, because she treated them so badly.

Bill, I am sure you have seen the good side of Shirley and I understand your position to stand up for her right to be so negatively vocal. However, I have seen (on many occasions) a person who was very mean spirited. I use the word "mean" advisedly. I worked with many folks over the years and never met anyone like her who had such a terrible attitude toward folks just trying to do their job. I never saw her even remotely show respect for the folks who were just doing their job.

Perhaps I need to put this in some context. My work with her was in the declining years of her racing where the performance of her car was not up to par with most of the racers. That said, I have talked to lots of folks who had to deal with her on the supplier/technical side and not one of them spoke well of her.

I am not trying to bash anyone, but I wanted to get some facts on the table that suggest her negative publicity is not some vendetta against her.

Jim

 

[BaldyLochs]

Anyone that thinks Hillary Will is a silver-spoon girl is an idiot, pure and simple. I went to high school with her dad, who owns a few logging trucks and they choose to spend their disposable income drag racing. She worked in the office doing (I think) accounting at the lumber company I used to work at. Every time I saw her, she was very friendly and pleasant to everyone. I never once heard anyone who actually KNOWS her say a bad word about her. I try to keep my mouth shut on my opinon about Shirley, but she's absolutely wrong about this.

Couldn’t agree more with you. I knew Hillary as well through my Kalitta fandom and following her AFD climb. Hillary and Shirley were both around together during the Zantrex3/ Strivectin SD project with KB Racing and Santo Rasparita with Ben Marshall and Waterbed Fred.
There was alot of resource and information sharing amongst all the Kalitta cars and Ken Black’s top fueler. I miss the Girlpower Car like hell. But at the same time…. I’m overjoyed that Hillary moved on and has a great life and family outside of racing. Couldn’t be happier for her and I will always cherish the memories.

 

[jgrigz]

She ran my 13 year old ass out of her pit at our local 1/8th mi track in a best 2 out of 3 match race with the Ramchargers in 1973.
The Ramchargers seemed kinda polished and let me stand around, Shirley not so much.

She showed up late for a 16 car funny car show when I was a kid and was cussing everyone and throwing stuff all over the pit as if it were someone else's fault. She was a total A-hole. Later I thought that maybe this was a rare occurrence and just a bad day for her. Then I ran into her at a few other events later on and watched her interviews at races and realized that with Shirley every day must be a bad day.

 

[twostep]

Couldn’t agree more with you. I knew Hillary as well through my Kalitta fandom and following her AFD climb. Hillary and Shirley were both around together during the Zantrex3/ Strivectin SD project with KB Racing and Santo Rasparita with Ben Marshall and Waterbed Fred.
There was alot of resource and information sharing amongst all the Kalitta cars and Ken Black’s top fueler. I miss the Girlpower Car like hell. But at the same time…. I’m overjoyed that Hillary moved on and has a great life and family outside of racing. Couldn’t be happier for her and I will always cherish the memories.

What's ironic is that Erica Enders, while beyond talented, epitomizes the term "silver-spoon girl" - her old man poured millions into her racing career - and yet she and Shirley have been longtime 'besties'.

Shirley is 84 years old and sooner than later these threads will all become a bunch of RIP's. I suppose it's time to quit fretting over her caustic personality and remember her for the things she did accomplish - like 3 NHRA championships. I don't see her as the WOMAN who won those championships; that had nothing to do with it when you think about it. I see her as the determined and accomplished DRIVER who fought her way to the top on 3 separate occasions.

 

[BOO BOO]

I seen some of her "actions" at Detroit Dragway back in the day. Unfortunately instead of embracing the female drivers she helped pave the way for she attacks certain ones. She comes across as old & bitter

 

[mike]

I seen some of her "actions" at Detroit Dragway back in the day. Unfortunately instead of embracing the female drivers she helped pave the way for she attacks certain ones. She comes across as old & bitter

I seen it first-hand aimed at me. JimTice told me to park a certain spot . She wanted three spots .She went screaming to Jim,Jim came down and told her to shut her clam then told me not to move.Which I did offer to her

 

[ROCKY]

I've never been a huge Shirley fan but agree with everything she said.

 

[aakar]

Say what you will about Shirley, but she was one of the most colorful characters ever, never a dull moment, bought Drag Racing a new audience

 

[mgty3whlr]

Say what you will about Shirley, but she was one of the most colorful characters ever, never a dull moment, bought Drag Racing a new audience

Insulting people and putting them down is your definition of colorful people? Well run with your Opinion.